


Harry potter and the unlikely companion

by vaguelyobsessed



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friends to Lovers, I couldn't sleep, M/M, Maybe........ maybe, Mentions of Mental Disorder, PTSD, Professor Harry, Slowburn Relationship, adorable puppy draco, adorableness overload, enemies to friend, fluffy goodness, i wrote this in three days, is this too many tags?, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 02:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12855057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaguelyobsessed/pseuds/vaguelyobsessed
Summary: Draco Malfoy had been prepared to face imprisonment for his crimes, but not to find himself finishing off his last year in Hogwarts beforehand. The Death Eaters are being rounded up meticulously, and every single one of them were to have a stay in Azkaban for their crimes, most for life and some for death. Oddly enough, there was a queue for those testifying on Draco's behalf, and many of them gained nothing from doing so. Death eaters, personal friends, and Harry Potter himself all testified that despite being used by Voldemort as a pawn in his game, Draco had only done so to protect others from death.Returning to school to help rebuild after the war, Harry and draco end up sharing a single dilapidated room given the state of the dormitories being shambles and uninhabitable. Houses forced together, and living with a convicted death eater pushes some to take vengenc eon Draco. Cue Savior Potter to right wrongs, protect his newfound friend, and to begin healing the wounds of war that so many had tried to fight.





	Harry potter and the unlikely companion

Despite loving Ginny, Harry breaks it off with her after everything, determined to not let her end up getting hurt while the death eaters across the magical world were trying to take as many people with them as possible, including Harry.  
Hogwarts is worse off for the wear, and no amount of magic will fix it alone. So McGonagall invites the students to stay or leave and to rebuild the school as well as take short informal classes. Those who left were going to make up their year the next, but those who stayed were moved to the dungeons, where the damage was nearly nonexistent. Meaning the Slytherins had to make room for the others and they began having to ‘get along’ and share living spaces.  
Harry, after giving as many names and faces as humanly possible, returns to Hogwarts happy to finish out his eighth year with the others as a peer instead of an army leader. Hary returns to find cramped living quarters and the eighth year dorms nearly full, the only room left was with Draco Malfoy. He’d been ostracized by the entire school for the scarred snake on his arm and his affiliations with the opposing side. Most were even not too subtly trying to convince the teachers to send him to Azkaban with his parents.

 

 

“Malfoy! Oi!” Harry called, grasping his shoulder as the boy hurried back and forth from class trying to avoid the legs, the arms, and the wands all ready to slam into him doing as much ‘accidential’ damage as possible in the process.  
“What?” Malfoy wondered, bracing himself for a beating from the golden boy like so many others had done to the point he’d learned how to brew a healing salve himself instead fo seeking out Pomphrey.   
“I just got back, and your room is the only one open. Mind sharing?” Harry wondered, not leading the boy into a fight or acting disgusted by the fact in the least.  
“W-Wel……. I…… I don’t exactly have….. a nice room…… But I don’t mind per say…..” Draco flinched as Harry waved his hand dismissively, stopping the movement when he sees the boy’s fear.  
“Are you ok? You seem…. Jumpy…… Well more than usual.” Harry noted slightly worried about the boy that he had regarded as an enemy for years with no information to support it.  
“Lok Potter, I’m late to check in with McGonagall,” Draco muttered before pulling out of his grip and walking briskly away from the boy wonder trying not to be killed in the process of making it to the headmaster’s office and back.

 

Harry waited for Draco to finish with the headmaster before going in himself worried for the boy’s state so alike his own at Privet Dr.  
“Headmaster? Mind if I come in a mo?” Harry wondered politely at the door instead of waltzing in as if he owned the place.  
“Potter, come in. I was about to come find you, actually.”  
“Alright. I came to ask about why Malfoy is……. What’s wrong with him? He looked as if I was going to strangle him when I spoke to him earlier.”  
“Well, that could be because of the impending imprisonment in Azkaban. Young Malfoy is, very blatantly, responsible for at least a portion of death eater activities in this school and is only here because every single death eater has, without being prompted, assured the ministry he was forced under threat of multiple deaths, to join their ranks.” McGonagall noted, offering a cup of tea to Harry who sat down listening with a frown.  
“His mum, right?” Harry offered, imagining she was the only one who they COULD have threatened him with killing.  
“Actually…… No. He had assured us he knew his father was protecting her well, he was threatened with…. Miss Granger, Longbottom, Weasley, and several other students in multiple houses lives.”  
“H-Hermione, Ron….. Draco wanted all of us dead from the start though-“  
“I assure you young Malfoy had quite good reasons to let you believe that, but since he and yourself are now roommates, maybe he can shed light on the full story. Now I was going to wait until later to ask, but we are beginning a class on self-defense much like the DA and I’d like you to teach it until we can find an appropriate teacher for such.” McGonagall offered, handing Harry some papers on certain spells and actual hand to hand fighting.  
“Of course, I’d love to. Is it mandatory?”   
“It will be in a few years, but for now it’s like divination…. Purely choice but it will be likely to earn you a better standing in certain fields. Now, I’ve got another student coming in to discuss their own problems, off you get.” Minerva ordered, waving him out the door behind him after plucking his half-finished cup of tea.  
Harry walked with his head stuck in the clouds as he descended the stairs to the dungeons and then into the eighth year dorms set off from the others. The farthest room from the door, smaller than the others and seemed far less than posh was where Harry found Draco’s name scrawled barely legible and his own written a bit more neatly on the card by some elf or another who brought his luggage here.  
“Oi, Malfoy. Got your DADA book handy?” Harry wondered tossing the papers on his bed that was covered in a red quilt that Mrs. Weasley had stitched up for him when he announced his intention to return to school and finishes out his last year at Hogwarts.  
“Uhh…. Yes?” Draco mumbled, handing the book across the short distance between the beds with a curious frown.  
“Thanks.” Harry quipped before tapping the light to turn it on and paging through the book efficiently and with intent.  
“What are you doing, Potter? Little late to catch up on reading innit?”   
“McGonagall asked me to teach a self-defense class until they find a teacher for it. I was going to find the section on dueling in here and mock up a few practice duels when I start.” Harry offered, writing down a few thing son dueling on the papers he was given before he handed the book back and sought out his trunk beneath his bed for something he felt might help.  
“Ah, there it is,” Harry mumbled softly before reading some spells Hermione had written for him onwards and protective enchantments.  
Malfoy was silent as he watched Potter working on his lessons to teach, wonder-filled by the look of determination he showed. Potter stayed up until late at night to finish writing down spells and techniques he thought of and still woke early in the morning to excitedly find a place outside to cast some warding to stop stray spells from destroying the castle anymore.  
“I’ve assembled a small class for the first day, Potter. I trust you prepared?” McGonagall wondered, pointing to the handwritten notes and such as well as the enthusiasm he showed towards the prospect of teaching again.  
“Of course, thank you, Headmaster.” Harry smiled, proudly looking over several first years who had stayed as well as the second and third years who had not participated in the fighting.  
“So tell me what all of you about deflecting spells.” Harry wondered, beginning what would be a very educational class and very fun for those involved.

 

“Morning everyone, have a nice afternoon?” Harry wondered, showing up to what he began to think of the best time of the day. He’d proven to the professors he’d learned enough of them so he began teaching the class fully now. Defences and fighting and learning defecting for the most part.  
“Excuse me, Professor Sprout. Sorry to stop you, but can I borrow Draco to help me tomorrow?” Harry wondered politely at the herbology professor who was walking about outside during her free period.  
“Hmmm, what for, Potter?” She wondered curiously.  
“McGonagall has me teaching a bit for the younger students while I’m here. Some of them aren’t getting the hang of deflecting, so I thought I’d show them a few spells and how to safely deflect them without burning down someone’s house or blowing up a tree.” Harry chuckled, smiling at the professor who shrugged and nodded in agreement.  
“Be my guest. Just make sure not to kill the boy.” She tossed as he left in a hurry to make it in time to tell him before he headed off to his class.

 

“You… your hat? P-Potter I’m not going to try and hex you!” Malfoy yipped as Harry explained his reasoning to the boy.  
“Well I need someone to do it, and Neville won’t skip herbology unless his life depended on it. I don’t have many options besides having one of the kids shoot curses at me and that hasn’t gone well for me in the past.” Harry groaned like a child, pouting at the boy who was stuck and knew it.   
“Fine but…. If you set me on fire I’ll glue you to your bed.” He sighed, knowing the threat was empty, he’d never risk doing anything to anyone least he is sent to Azkaban for more than his already coming term.  
“Thanks, mate,” Harry called, leaving him stunned silent at the word choice as he made his way to his classes for the day.

 

 

“Alright everyone, today…. I’m going to be dueling Draco here with nothing but deflects and stunning spells,” Harry announced, facing Draco within the wards he’d set up painstakingly careful to avoid any stray charms or spells flying.  
“No fire or lightning, please. Wards might not hold them.” Harry reminded before pulling out his wand and facing his opponent with a slight grin knowing he was the better wizard of the two of them.  
“Expelliarmis!” Draco called, sending a flash of white across towards Harry which deflected safely to the ground seconds before the second came sailing towards him. Harry rolled out of the way before letting loose an unspoken spell at Draco, a simple Descendo(move down) spell that nearly caught Draco in the chest before he managed to conjure a small shield to block it and step sideways holding his wand defensively with a smile.  
“Scared…. Potter?” He laughed, making the other return it with a chuckle before coming back.  
“You wish, Malfoy. Go on then, supposed to be teaching here. You shot worse at me in our fourth year!” Harry accused, seeing his wand raise and preparing a deflect just as Draco sent a Ducklifiros his way only to hit the ground making a tiny duck out of the area of grass that popped from existence just as quickly into the grass again.  
“Throw some purify you, scared oaf.” Harry cried, making him grin and do as ordered. A fairly powerful one at that.  
“Petrificus total!” Draco snarked, three blasts erupting from his wand towards Harry nearly too fast for him to deflect downward or up into the sky to crash into the wards several feet above them.  
“Expelliarmis!” Harry suddenly cast just as Draco was about to throw another spell his way, launching his wand out of his hand expertly.  
“Accio!” Harry snarked, grasping it from the air with a heckling laugh before he pointed it out he ward point and evaporated said wards so they could leave and hear the students cheering, including several whom weren’t apart of the class.  
“Second time I’ve owned your wand, eh Malfoy? You’d think it would like it’s original owner more, mate.” Harry teased handing it back with a smirk of adrenaline from their mock-up fight.  
“Prolly thinking you need the help of a decent wand for once.” Draco snarked, rolling his eyes and checking his watch for the time.  
“We’ve got fifteen till next class. Any questions left?” Harry wondered, spotting a few students from lower years suddenly not so eager to laugh.  
“Sir-“  
“Really potter? Make then call you sir like a damned teacher, pompous are you?” Malfoy rolled his eyes again, grabbing his bag from the ground and smirking to his roommate before taking his wand from his hand and feeling the small warmth as it regained loyalty to him.  
“Harry, why do you let him talk to you like that? I mean we all know he tried to kill you, he is a deal-“  
“Enough, Hill. I’ve gotten closer to killing him than he’s ever gotten to taking me out, in fact, he saved my life twice int eh last few years I know of. I’ve never pretended we can stand one another all the time, but if anyone on this school dares to think I’ll watch ANYONE hurt someone else for the fun of it……. I’ll be taking you to McGonagall without a second thought, no matter who it is. There has been enough violence for no reason.” Harry ordered, looking over his students who suddenly looked ashamed of themselves for what they had done, well for about a minute before a scream coursed through everyone’s lips as a small movement on the grass caught their attention.  
Tiny, green, and slithering from its hole confused to why it had been woken, a tiny snake curled up hissing questioningly and complaining about being too full to be awake.  
“Sorry friend. Sleep, we’re leaving.” Harry hissed, causing the snake to nod to him and disappear back into its hole while everyone stared a second in confusion.  
“You…. You told the prophet you couldn’t speak parseltongue anymore.” A few wondered,d but Harry shrugged it off and told everyone to get on with their day.

 

 

“Potter, what in Merlin's name did you do?” Draco asked the second he entered their room later in the day after a nice shower.  
“huh? What hap- DRACO WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!” Harry yelped beside himself seeing the bruises covering Draco’s face.  
“Fecking never saw it coming. OR WHO! What the hell did you do? They weren’t this brazen until you begun that fecking defense class, Potter!” Draco snarled, dropping the ice bag from his face and showing the rest of the deep black bruising that was so widespread it was obviously magically caused.  
“Never would have taught then this fucking charm, Draco…….. Did you see anyone? Anything?” Harry wondered, pained at the thought of the students taking the same path that tom riddle had in school, dealing with whom he saw fit to deal with.  
“Uhh….. I was leaving your little class…… I saw….. Blue robes when I fell, running away. Blue robes and…… some sort of…… yellow shoes. It was all a blur of color. What are you going to do potter! Leave ti be!” Malfoy ordered, but Harry was already storming thought eh castle with determination and seething rage.  
“Neville, still people watching?” Harry wondered, sitting beside the boy who was outside watching everyone silently.  
“Uhh, yes. Why?”  
“I need to find a Ravenclaw with yellow shoes. It’s important, they cursed someone with one fo the restricted spells.” Harry offered, watching Neville’s wheels turning before he recalled a face and name to the shoes and house.  
“Leah Borrin and her group all wear yellow shoes, religiously. They lost a Hufflepuff friend in the war.”  
Harry hardly heard the last part as he slid through the hallways to the nearest teacher before stopping them with a look that could have forced anyone to comply.  
“Leah Borrin, know her?” Harry wondered, looking to Madam Pomphrey who nodded looking in slight fear of the younger boy.  
“She- She left for Hogsmeade about an hour ago on a field trip.” She offered, and as the last time Harry stormed off to the train and waited with a snark look on his face waiting for the guilty party to return to Hogwarts.

 

“Leah Borrin, and all your yellow shoed friends……. Headmaster’s office in the next fifteen minutes.” Harry quipped, turning on his heel as her face went white in fear as he stalked away from the train having students jumping from his path as he made it to McGonagall’s office and explained it all with a scowl on his face.  
“Neville told me the group wears yellow shoes, the only Ravenclaws that do. I’m not allowed to check their wands, but you can. It’s a restricted spell on grounds, if they did it wrong they could have killed someone.” Harry announced, barely restraining his anger at someone taking the law into their own hands and putting anyone nearby at risk.  
“Calm yourself, potter, I’ll do it. Not helping anyone looking like you’re about to burst into flame.” She chided before the door was rapped on slightly and five girls stepped in all stone-faced and pale as they could be.  
“Hello ladies, nice of you to join us. So I’ve been told that a restricted spell was done on school grounds, resulting in the injury of a student. I’m checking wands, out with them.” She ordered, raising her own as they all stood shaking slightly.  
“Wands,” Harry repeated with a snarl to his words as they all realized the trouble they could be inf or refusing and put them on the oak desk as swiftly as possible.  
“No, no, no, no…… Ms. Borrin…….. Ms. Halfree……. You four can leave.” She announced, the said four sprinting out as the two of them faced the girls.  
“Explain, promptly,” McGonagall ordered in her way that could have a death eater whimpering in fear.  
“M-Malfoy…. He….. he’s a death eater. How could he be in this school! We were protecting the others! Someone has to make sure he won’t kill us in our sleep or something. Everyone wards their rooms against him, I was just acting first!” Borrin cried, looking at Harry.  
“Just like you did, when you went after him,” Halfree noted softly, turning red as her eyes filled with fear of the teacher and the boy wonder.  
“Draco Malfoy is not Voldemort. He’s a student here because despite what everyone thinks he saved my life more than once. Tom Riddle started off thinking he was just evening the score. He began thinking he was right, then he just stopped caring if he was right. I didn’t attack a student, I didn’t cast an illegal charm that could have killed someone in a hallway full of students!!!” Harry roared, turning to the door and storming out before he did something stupid like tell them they were nothing like the DA or any of the Phoenix. They were more like the death eaters than Malfoy.  
“Potter! You better explain right now why you took off- what did you do to the girl?” Draco snarled, gripping him by the collar and dragging him away from the door, face slightly less swollen but none the less painful looking or bruised.  
“She cast a restricted spell that could have killed you and hurt anyone nearby. I took her to the headmaster, that’s it…. Ok well, I scared her a bit but….. I am not letting anyone hurt another just because they think they deserve it.” Harry snarked, allowing the shorter boy to drag him through the castle back to the dungeons and to their room before shutting the door with a sigh and sitting back down on his bed.  
“Why the sudden urge to protect eh? Why do you suddenly care what happens to me?” Draco wondered, unable to find a reason someone might actually care about him besides personal gain.  
“Why did you become one of them to protect Ron and Hermione and the other students. Why did you not tell them it was me in the manor? Because it’s the right thing to do and someone has to do it.”  
“Not…. Not why I did those, I assure you. I kept the students safe because….. I’m oddly fond of all of you. Longbottom, Ron, and Hermione, all of you. I’m a prat who likes to tease fun and prod, but I’m not a monster.”  
“I knew there was some decency in you after all.” Harry chuckled patting him on his shoulder before grabbing a bottle of healing salve from his trunk and offering it to the other.  
“One hit me in the back…. Can you…… please?’ Draco wondered turning pink at the prospect of another boy rubbing his back with what was essentially lotion.  
“Shirt off.” He waved dismissively, shuffling around in his trunk for his first aid kit spotting a cut on Draco's back from the initial hit that wouldn't heal unless it was clean.  
“Wha- What’s that for?!” Draco yipped seeing the kit come into sight.  
“The salve won’t work as well if the cut on your back is dirty. This cleans it, muggle invention. Promise it’s safe.” Harry offered to dab a cloth with the alcohol and holding Draco’s shoulder.  
“It stings, but you won’t get infected,” Harry warned before swiping the cut with the wet cloth and feeling Draco tense slightly but didn’t say a word as Harry dabbed the cut a few times and wiped what he could out of it before starting on the salve.  
It was thick and silver colored, but it began to heal the bruising immediately after application as long as it was applied correctly. Harry finished promptly without lingering on the pale skin any longer than needed before handing the vial back to Draco to do his face himself as he grabbed his things for bed and began to change silently.  
“Thanks, Harry,” Draco noted before turning over in bed and setting the vial on his bedside table for him to retrieve. The salve had worked well and absorbed into his skin quickly as it could be. The bruising had faded into his natural skin tone of pale white and he still lied on the bed in nothing but his trousers as his roommate changed for bed.

 

“Students? Your attention please, I have a few announcements this morning. First will be the replacement of the warding happening all day, so please stay inside and enjoy the free day as you please. Next is an odd announcement that most of you might find a bit…… Strange to think of, but Harry Potter, the current teacher of the Self Defense class, is taking a more permanent position with us as a teacher. Since we don’t have any more rooms in the teacher wing die to damages, we’ll work on moving him from the student rooms, but for now, he’ll stay.  
He will be taking over the new class on the roster, and the new dueling club he’s convinced us to start back up. Unlike many years prior, this will not be a house by house team but a skill type team system. If you would like to begin trying out for said teams, please see Professor Potter.” Harry didn’t miss the smirk she gave him and the pride his decision had made in her. She was as close to a real mother as he had in school, and wouldn’t forget it.  
“One last thing is the subject of those of us who are……. Being harassed on campus. I’ve sent two students from Ravenclaw home for the rest of the semester for their actions in casting a dangerous charm meant to incapacitate another student. If anyone in this school performs magic with the intent to harm another student, they will face the wards until I am notified. Now, please enjoy your meal and stay indoors today.” McGonagall finished off with a wave of her hand before sitting back down to finish up her meal in peace with the other teachers.

 

“Harry, you git, We’re, going to tell me about accepting the job?” Draco snipped as he found himself sitting beside Harry despite the different house tables and the glares of the Gryffindor students.  
“Didn’t know I’d take it until I realized….. I didn’t feel like a student anymore. Go eat, you blonde posh snake.” He chided, prodding Draco in the ribs as he patted him on the back fondly and did just that. Returned to his table of silence with nearly no house members left at the table.  
“So when do I have to start calling you Professor?” Draco wondered, elbowing Harry as he followed him from breakfast towards where he was trying to paste a sign-up sheet for tryouts on the wall without being run over by the excited students.  
“How about just when I’m teaching mate.” Harry chuckled, ducking around a few third years and closely followed by Draco as he headed off towards the stairs.  
“Where are we going?” Draco wondered, but Harry dismissed him by grasping his sleeve and pulling him into an abandoned very large chamber.  
“In our first year, this was where the stone entrance was protected by fluffy. The tunnels are abandoned and no longer protected by wards or angry plants, or suspicious doors. It’s a bit wonky to get to, but the chamber at the end is located beneath the school and with proper long-term warding on the walls…. It’s bound to end up perfect for dueling practice.” Harry offered, unlatching a trapdoor on the floor and landing in a bare room covered in purplish markings, the last of the devils snare that had rotted from the light so many years ago. Harry slid through the tunnel leading to the door below and simply waltzed through to a multiple tunneled room and choose the one he recalled before facing a long corridor at the end.  
“It’s….. fairly perfect. Let me guess, the room above will be your classroom or office, while this will only be for those on the dueling teams for practice?” Draco offered, looking around the room curiously as it felt…… almost wrong for him to be there.  
“Classroom, though I prefer to have it outside winter coming close and all might not be a sturdy plan.” Harry reminded, making Malfoy simply nod a few times before facing Harry questioningly.  
“Why show me this? I get we’re somewhat friends now, but this seems like something you have kept secret for several years.” Harry rubbed his neck, slightly put off by his ability to see Harry’s motives.  
“I’d like you to help me set up the new dueling club. And when you get out of Azkaban, I think you’d make a wonderful DADA teacher. Slughorn’s leaving for good when we can find someone else.” The tension in Malfoy was palpable at the mention of Azkaban and his impending imprisonment.  
“I didn’t know they told you about that.” Draco murmured put off by the realization.  
“I was the one who spoke on your behalf during the trials. They asked me what a fair sentence would include, and I gave them this. Anyone who served for the other side needs to be publically shown as being punished, but I and every death eater I spoke to all said the same…. You were protecting others. So one and one-half years in Azkaban is not something anyone else could manage, but I think you’ll do fine.


End file.
